Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke leaves Cook County Jail on Sept. 6, 2018, after a brief detention for violating a gag order in his murder case. Jury selection for his trial in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald begins in earnest Monday.

Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke leaves Cook County Jail on Sept. 6, 2018, after a brief detention for violating a gag order in his murder case. Jury selection for his trial in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald begins in earnest Monday. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke walked out of Cook County Jail on Thursday surrounded by a phalanx of uniformed Chicago police officers after a judge gave him a slap-on-the-wrist bond hike for giving media interviews in violation of a long-standing gag order.

About 90 minutes earlier, Judge Vincent Gaughan had tacked on an additional $2,000 to Van Dyke’s original $1.5 million bond, saying the officer violated the conditions of his bond when he spoke to reporters about the case just days before the trial’s start.

Van Dyke remained expressionless as sheriff’s deputies took him into custody and escorted him from the courtroom after Gaughan announced his decision from the bench. His attorney left the courtroom a short time later carrying a plastic bag containing his personal effects, including a tie, belt, wedding ring and a $20 bill.

Gaughan’s ruling meant Van Dyke had to post just $200 to get out of custody, a much lighter punishment than the jailing sought by prosecutors. It also reflected the delicate calculation Gaughan faced — the exceptionally authoritative judge had to show that his order had teeth without inflaming the already heated case.

Van Dyke’s father, his attorney and several Chicago police officers in attendance immediately offered up the necessary cash. Court records show his father posted the $200 at about 11:45 a.m. Thursday.

About half an hour later, Van Dyke walked out of jail onto the rainy sidewalk, hugged his father and left in a waiting white minivan without making comment. Both on-duty and off-duty officers surrounded him in an attempt to shield him from a crowd of reporters and camera operators.

While at the jail, Van Dyke was processed, his mug shot taken.

Cook County sheriff's office

Officer Jason Van Dyke's mug shot was taken Sept. 6, 2018, at Cook County Jail after the judge in the case added $2,000 to his original $1.5 million bond. He was released about 90 minutes later.

Officer Jason Van Dyke's mug shot was taken Sept. 6, 2018, at Cook County Jail after the judge in the case added $2,000 to his original $1.5 million bond. He was released about 90 minutes later. (Cook County sheriff's office)

Last week, Van Dyke granted the Tribune his first interview since he fatally shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald while on duty in October 2014. He also spoke with WFLD-Ch. 32 the next day.

In both interviews he told reporters he was being punished for doing his job and would have fired his weapon only if he feared for his safety or that of other police officers or the public.

“He only decided to do it because of the avalanche of publicity against him, the publicity that cannot ensure him a fair trial,” Randy Rueckert, one of Van Dyke’s attorneys, said Thursday in court while defending the interviews. “For 2½ years, it’s been the white cop that shot the black teenager. This has nothing to do with black or white, and for 2½ years he has had to sit there and take it.”

Prosecutors initially asked the judge to hold Van Dyke in contempt over the interviews, though they later said it would be more appropriate to delay that decision until after his trial, which began Wednesday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago. Potential jurors filled out questionnaires and will return Monday, when jury selection begins in earnest.

The defense has argued that the officer had a First Amendment right to speak with the news media, particularly after three years of largely negative coverage. Rueckert accused prosecutors Thursday of colluding with McDonald’s relatives, some of whom held a news conference Tuesday to urge protesters to be peaceful during and after the trial.

The judge has been unusually strict in controlling the dissemination of information about the case. He has regularly held lengthy discussions behind closed doors and emptied his courtroom of spectators and reporters for several recent hearings in the courtroom.

Police dashboard camera video released in 2015 by court order shows Van Dyke opening fire within seconds of exiting his squad car as McDonald, holding a knife, appeared to walk away from police, contradicting reports from officers at the scene that the teen had threatened officers with the weapon. The release of the video more than a year after the shooting sparked months of protests and political upheaval.

The special prosecution team handling the case had asked that Van Dyke’s bond be revoked as punishment for the interviews, saying the public comments flouted Gaughan’s “decorum order” barring substantive public comment from attorneys and potential witnesses in the case.

Van Dyke has been free on bail since he was charged in November 2015 after his family posted the necessary $150,000 cash bail.

As a condition of his release, he was obligated to follow all court orders, Gaughan noted Thursday.

“Was this interview a violation of the condition of bail? Yes, it was,” the judge said. “I’m not going to go in and speculate if this was an attempt to contaminate a potential jury pool. … I’m not even going to comment or make any findings whether the interview was really beneficial.”

In arguing for Van Dyke to be jailed Thursday, Joseph Cullen, a member of the special prosecution team, attacked the interviews as an effort “to try the case in the press.”

Cullen said Van Dyke’s comments directly addressed the self-defense claim that his lawyers are expected to argue at trial. He also held that the publicity will interfere with efforts to select a fair jury.

“It can’t possibly be more clear that the defendant is in the press attempting to try this case and present his case,” Cullen said. “He’s trying to testify in the press without being cross-examined.”

Rueckert denied Van Dyke was attempting to sway potential jurors and noted that McDonald’s family also had spoken to the media.

“The family of the victim in this case — quote, unquote, victim — has been giving press conferences for two weeks at least,” he said. “If we’re talking about trying to spoil a jury pool, that would be more impressive.”

In addition, he pointed out that special prosecutor Joseph McMahon recently gave media interviews, including one with the Sun-Times for a story that ran last week. A profile of McMahon and Daniel Herbert, Van Dyke’s lead lawyer, appeared in the Tribune on Tuesday. Both attorneys also spoke with WBEZ-FM 91.5.

But Cullen argued that McMahon did not discuss any issue that violated Gaughan’s decorum order.

The lone witness called Thursday by prosecutors was Anne Kavanagh, Van Dyke’s public relations strategist. She verified that Van Dyke gave interviews to the Tribune and Channel 32 and testified that she attended both sessions and that the Tribune story accurately reflected Van Dyke’s comments.

Van Dyke, 40, gave a 40-minute interview to the Tribune on Aug. 28 in which he described the shooting as his “darkest day” on the job and expressed his fear of spending the rest of his life in prison. The Tribune previously reported that the conversation was tightly controlled by Van Dyke’s attorneys and a public relations strategist who attended the interview.

McDonald’s great-uncle, the Rev. Marvin Hunter, who was aware that the defense earlier in the day had criticized McDonald’s family for also granting media interviews, told the Tribune that he plans to keep a lower profile in the media until the end of the trial.

“I don’t want anything or anyone to try to influence this jury or this judge’s decision,” he said. “I want this trial to stand on its own merit and the work that the prosecutors have done.”

Hunter also said a mix-up over seating for the family in the courtroom on the trial’s first day had been resolved.

“We perceived it like it was a personal attack on the family, but I think they just didn’t know how to handle what they were dealing with and it was just a lot of miscommunication,” he said. “But it’s fine.”

The trial is scheduled to resume Monday, when potential jurors will be questioned individually about their backgrounds, opinions and possible biases. The process is expected to take at least a week, possibly more.